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GREAT Zimbabwe in Masvingo on Sunday played host to heads of country delegations attending the ongoing United Nations World Tourism Organisation general assembly that is being co-hosted by Zimbabwe and Zambia. Great Zimbabwe is one of the country’s prime tourist destinations.
The UNWTO delegates said they were impressed by the rich cultural activities taking place at Great Zimbabwe and pledged to market the monuments in their respective countries. They said with the right exposure, Great Zimbabwe which they described as very unique, could grow to become one of the best attractions in Africa. The tourists however, said there was a need to come up with a full package that includes other activities if the monuments were to attract large numbers of visitors.
“There is need to develop other economic activities around such monuments as is being done in other countries,” said one of the visitors.
The director of Museums and Monuments, Dr Godfrey Mahachi who accompanied the delegates, conceded that the number of tourists visiting the monuments was low and attributed this to lack of vigorous marketing strategies. Dr Mahachi said the monuments had the potential to attract more tourists and what was required was to come up with marketing strategies.
Chief Tshovani who welcomed the delegates to the monuments said there was a strong feeling in the province that Great Zimbabwe was not being accorded its rightful place in the country’s tourism matrix. He was also of the view that with improved marketing, the monuments could record an increase in visitors.
The visit to Great Zimbabwe confirmed that many of the country’s tourist attractions are not known internationally. Some of the delegates said they were not aware that the country had such great monuments which they said could grow to become one of the best attractions in Africa. Many tourists from other countries are of the view that Victoria Falls is Zimbabwe’s sole tourist attraction. This is so because Victoria Falls is not only marketed by Zimbabwe but by Zambia and South Africa. There are many tourists visiting South Africa whose packages include a visit to the Mighty Victoria Falls. These tourists are sometimes just flown to Victoria Falls where they spend a day and return to South Africa and such tourists are made to believe that the only tourist destination in Zimbabwe is the Victoria Falls yet the country has many such destinations.
We want to therefore applaud the organisers of the UNWTO general assembly for facilitating the Great Zimbabwe trip and hope that they will be able to squeeze in visits to other tourist destinations in different parts of the country during the week.Tourist destinations such as Hwange Main Camp, Nyanga, Gonarezhou, Mana Pools, Matopo and Kariba could benefit from such visits.
The challenge to the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry is to ensure that as many of these tourist destinations as possible are visited by the delegates during their stay. Arrangements could be made for the delegates to visit some of these areas even after the assembly. The general assembly which is being attended by more than 1 000 delegates representing more than 150 countries is a lifetime opportunity which the country should take advantage of.
It is our fervent hope that tourism operators based in the different tourist resorts are geared to provide the best services to the visitors. The first impression is very critical and we just have to be at our best so that the visitors become our ambassadors who will market our different tourism products and services to their respective countries and even beyond. We want to once again implore all stakeholders in the tourism industry to work together to market Zimbabwe’s full tourism package to our visitors before they leave the country.
Online Reporter